Immersion in Virtual Reality Can Increase Exercise Motivation and Physical Performance

We present an experimental study evaluating the effectiveness of immersive virtual reality games (combined with stationary cycling) on health-related physical activity in comparison to stationary cycling with the same game in a non-immersive (2D) setting. In the experiment, participants were asked to play a cycling video game with a stationary bike either in the immersive virtual reality (3D VR) environment or in a traditional 2D (Non-VR) display setting. Based on several theories, we anticipate that users of immersive virtual reality will feel more present in the game be induced to physically performed better than when they played the same game with a traditional 2D screen. In addition, we also expect to see people who are eager to accept and use a new technology will show better cycling performance in an immersive virtual environment than people who think accepting the newest technology in a timely manner is not very important for their lives.

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